A couple of weeks ago I launched a new site for Dr. Travis Elliott. From our initial consultation, Dr Elliott saw the benefit of having a blog. Yet, he also needed a ‘static’ website to give information about his services and classes. Most importantly, he wanted to easily manage his content for both the blog and the ‘static’ site.
In the final design I used the pages feature in WordPress to create the ‘static’ pages that you’d find on any brochure site. We made sure the blog was on the ‘homepage’ while still adding a brief intro about his work.
Dr Elliott is trained as a Naturopath. He’s more recently trained in an interesting alternative therapy called BodyTalk. Based in Applied Kinesiology and western medicine, BodyTalk looks at healing the whole of a person’s physical body, emotions, mind, and spirit. He works with many types of ailments, including chronic diseases, with great results. Certainly interesting work.
I like the latest WordPress addition, in the you can have a static page as your blogs front page.
I took a quick look at the site you designed and was disappointed not to see any imagery on there. I think you could really lift it by bringing it to life a bit and showing a photo or two.
Certainly. And I’m at the will of my clients. He wanted a clear, simple banner that didn’t take away from his copy. I know he’s planning on adding some photos and other imagery at his leisure.
Dawud,
As a web designer, isn’t the potential of WordPress worrisome at times? I mean, I’ve worked with web designers who offer a basic 5 page static site for a flat rate of, say, $700-800, but now I, a web-marketer, can undercut them and offer a WordPress package for, say, $300 and laugh (maniacally, of course) because it would only take me maybe 5-6 hours of work.
Chris M
For what my expertise is, I’m not worried at all. But that’s because I do so much more than just design websites. I have a vast knowledge of business development and marketing and how they translate to the internet. So I’m more of an educator, coach and consultant who also knows web development and how to leverage all those skills to build a business.
So even the $300 (or $800 for that matter) website owner will at some time want to actually learn how to build their business. That’s where I come in.
I think in general, though, you have a great point. But not only at the $300 level. With WordPress themes and the Pages function, people can easily create attractive sites for almost free. So think the general web design industry is going to go through quite a flux in the coming few years. I’ve been really rethinking the need for a static website for business growth in the first place.
Boy, the blogosphere sure makes things fun, huh?
WordPress is such a versatile platform. Do you have a favorite theme or do you design your own?